On 1/2/07, Chris Rebert <cvrebert at gmail.com> wrote:
>> In Haskell, foo `baz` bar means (baz foo bar), which translates to
> baz(foo, bar) in Python. This allows Haskell programmers to use
> functions as infix operators.
> If I recall correctly, in Py3k, enclosing something in backticks will no
> longer cause it to be repr()-ed, leaving the backtick without a meaning
> in Python.
Right. I removed that back in August at the Google sprint.
Thus, I propose one of the following as the new use for the backtick (`):
> [Note: In both, the characters between the backticks must be a valid
> Python identifier.]
>> (A) `baz` is treated as an operator, named "baz", just as / is "div".
> foo `baz` bar thus causes python to try to call foo.__baz__(bar), and
> failing that, bar.__rbaz__(foo), and if both those fail, raise
> TypeError. This is, if I understand correctly, how the builtin operators
> work.
(B) `baz` is a special way to call a callable. foo `baz` bar is
> translated to baz(foo, bar) with the standard lookup rules for
> resolving "baz"
>>> Example use cases, stolen from Haskell: The Craft of Functional
> Programming:
> 2 `max` 5 => 5
> 7 `cons` tail => ConsCell(val=7, next=tail)
> matrix1 `crossproduct` matrix2 => cross-product of the matrices
> [1, 2, 3] `zip` ['a', 'b', 'c'] => [[1, 'a'], [2, 'c'], [3, 'c']]
>> I believe that this would improve the readability of code, such as
> Numeric, without going off the deep end and offering programmable syntax.
Big -1 from me. I hate this feature from Haskell. It is a step towards
programmable syntax and I think that's just a messy. And having it become a
magic method that is called instead of just some function that takes two
arguments really sends us down that road.
-Brett
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